Painting your home exterior is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect your home and save money in the long run by avoiding unnecessary repairs and continuous maintenance. You have decided to paint your home exterior by yourself, congratulation you came to the right place. If you follow this easy step by step blueprint on how to paint the exterior of your home, you will be more efficient, save money, and get great results. Let’s do this.
Steps to Paint your home.
- Assess the condition of the siding, trim, windows.
- Test for lead if your home was built before 1978.
- Pressure wash your home.
- Look for possible rotted trim or siding.
- Replace any rotted trim or siding.
- Caulk and repair any gaps in your siding and trim.
- Remove any loose paint. Light sand to smooth out surfaces.
- Spot prime any areas where raw wood might be exposed.
- Paint the siding or brick.
- Paint eaves, windows, doors, and shutters
- Touch-ups.
Do This if You Love Painting
A friend of mine called me asking for an estimate to paint the exterior of her home. When I got there I noticed it was not a big job for me, in fact, she had painted most of the house except the gables.
I told her I was very impressed by her painting job, naturally, I had to ask how long had it taking her to paint the house. With a big smile on her face, she said “Diego every day after work I will grab my two-inch brush and go outside to paint. The painting was therapeutic for me”.
I was shocked – you said a 2-inch brush -, I am still waiting for the answer. Then she said, “ it only took me six months to paint the whole house maybe because I was using my 2-inch brush.”
I know this is a long story but if you follow these easy steps, hopefully, it won’t take you six months to paint your home.
Tools and Supplies
To do the job right and to get the best results you will need the right tools. Some of these tools and supplies are essential, some of them you can go without them. I will let you make this decision.
- Paintbrush.
- Sprayer (optional)
- Caulking gun.
- Caulk.
- Painters tape.
- Painters plastic (optional)
- Mildew remover.
- Pressure washer.
- Ladders.
- Rags/ towels.
- Paint can opener.
- Scraper.
- Do not forget the paint.
Assess the condition of your siding, trim, windows.
Do a quick inspection of the condition of your home. Look for things like loose or missing siding boards, fallen gutters painted shut windows, you get the idea. As you start prepping your home, you will find more areas that might need your attention.
Test for lead if your home was built before 1978.
If your house was built before 1978 I will recommend doing a lead test before you begin working on your home. There are many test kits options available. Head over to Home Depot and you will find different options to choose from. Follow the instructions in the package and you will get the results almost instantly. For more information on lead paint removal go to the EPA website.
Pressure wash your home.
Pressure wash your house by first using a “plant-friendly” mildew remover. If you are planning on using bleach, cover all plants and remove immediate furniture. Dilute the bleach according to the manufacturer label. Follow these tips to get better results:
- 3.1. Work in sections. Rinse one section at a time.
- 3.2. Always apply the cleaning solution starting from the bottom and work your way up, to prevent stains.
- 3.3. Let the cleaning solution work for at least 15 minutes.
- 3.4. To be more efficient, rinse the next section while the cleaning solution it’s working. Repeat.
- 3.5. Rinse off all the cleaning solutions from siding and windows.
- 3.6. Be careful around windows and doors. Do not apply direct pressure to these areas. You could damage the weather seals and get water inside the home.
Look for rotted wood or siding.
After cleaning your home, finding rotted wood will now be much easier to identify. In my experience, the main areas where I see the most rotting are window seals, the bottom of door jams, and fascia boards behind gutters.
Replace rotted wood or siding boards.
Do not be intimidated, there are tons of youtube videos on how to replace wood trim or siding. And this will be a great excuse to head over to Lowes and buy your new set of power tools. If you feel this is too big of a job, hire a carpenter.
Caulk any gaps around your trim or siding boards.
Remember, we are trying to seal our home from the elements and caulking is the most important step to achieve this goal. It will save you money in the short and long run. This step becomes even more essential if you own a house than it’s wrapped in masonite siding. Masonite siding its notorious for being susceptible to moisture penetration, mold, and mildew.
- 6.1 Caulk any visible gaps or cracks in your siding, trim and windows.
- 6.2 Caulk under the eaves.
- 6.3 Purchase exterior paintable caulk.
Remove loose paint.
- 7.1Remove any loose or flaky paint. When using a scraper make sure not to damage the wood.
- 7.2 Light sand all areas where you scraped to feather the edges as much as possible and to create a smoother.
- 7.3 You can use a 180 grit paper. If this is too abrasive go up a little bit. I recommend using an electric sander to make the job a lot easier and faster for you.
- 7.4 Depending on the condition of the paint you might need to use a “ paint eater” this beast will remove the paint all the way to the siding, giving you the best results. And again, it might not be necessary.
Spot prime exposed wood.
I highly recommend using a dedicated exterior primer. Primers are made of resins whose basic function is to penetrate and seal porous surfaces so the topcoat has better adhesion.
- 8.1 Prime any areas where raw wood it’s exposed with a high-quality exterior primer
- 8.2 Depending on the weather, most primers will be ready to paint over in about one hour.
- 8.3 Lots of brands out there claim to be primer +paint in one. I recommend using a high-quality exterior primer only.
Paint the siding or brick.
Painting the exterior of your home its where the real fun begins. You have the option to paint with a sprayer or by hand (brush method). We will be focusing on painting with a brush. However, I want to share a brief summary of what you would expect if you decide to paint with a sprayer.
Spraying method
- 9.1.1 Spray painting will save you some time in the long run.
- 9.1.2. If used correctly you will have a smoother finish.
- 9.1.3. You will need to mask windows and adjacent areas to prevent overspray.
- 9.1.4. Choose a calm day where there is no much wind.
- 9.1.5. You will need some experience on how to use the sprayer to prevent runs and drips.
- 9.1.6. You can always “back-roll” to help with any runs and drips.
- 9.1.7. Set the pressure right. Do a few testing strokes on a scrap piece of siding or plywood.
- 9.1.8. Overlap your strokes by about 50%. And stay away about 8 to 12 inches from the surface.
- 9.1.9. When spraying and in most situations, you would want to start on the high areas and work your way down.
- 9.1.10. Start by painting the eaves and fascia boards. Clean the machine and continue with the siding. Finally, paint the windows and corners.
Hand painting (brushing method)
Let’s now talk about brush painting.
- 9.2.1. Hand painting your home will be less complicated. It will take you longer, eat the whale one bite at a time. Divide the house by sections, and commit to doing each section as planned.
- 9.2.2. You do not have to worry as much about masking windows and other areas. Painting by hand will be less messy.
- 9.2.3. Make sure to buy a good painting brush, a three dollar brush is not going to do it.
- 9.2.4. When painting and in most situations, you would want to start on the high areas and work your way down.
- 9.2.5. Start by painting the eaves, fascia board, siding, and finally the windows and corners.
- 9.2.6. Always try to work in shaded areas. The paint will dry much faster if you are painting directly under the sun, leaving more overlapping marks.
Paint eaves and fascia board.
Depending on the method you choose to paint. You might want to start by painting the eaves and fascia board. If you are planning on spraying I would paint the eaves and fascia after spraying. If you are planning on brushing I would start painting top to bottom, fascia, eaves and so on.
Windows, doors, and Trim.
When painting windows, make sure you paint them early in the day to give them enough time to dry. Paint all the remaining trim like corner boards, shutters, etc. Paint the front door with a bright eye-catching color, this is my personal opinion, have fun with this step. Think of it as the cherry on top of a milkshake.
Touch- Ups and Clean Up
This is the last step. Go around the house looking for areas that might need to retouch. Make sure to wrap the end of your ladder if you happen to go high to prevent marks on the siding. Pick up all the trash, tape, plastic that might be laying around the yard, and you are done, my friend. Good job
Sit back and enjoy it!
As you can see, painting the exterior of your home is not hard if you follow this easy step by step guide. Painting your home exterior is the best and easiest way to transform your home, not to mention it has so many benefits. Better aesthetics, increased home value, protection against the elements are some of the most important. Go out there and get it done!